Pots of Gold and Rainbows Cake Pops

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I thought it would be an excellent idea to bring back this really fun and totally appropriately themed post that's perfect for kids and for those who aren't kids anymore but wish they were (aka me).  Aren't these Pots of Gold and Rainbows cake pops super adorable?  I love them!  It's been a while since I've looked at them closely, but I really think that these are one of my favorite treats that I've made to date.  They're so cute!

Normally, I don't do too many "decorated" desserts or treats, simply because I don't have the patience for it.  I'll typically start out a project feeling really enthusiastic about the sugar cookies I'm going to decorate or that gingerbread house I'm going to construct, but then after about an hour's work  when I realize that I'm nowhere close to being finished, I get restless and just have to stop.  I'm surprised I was able to make these cake pops from start to finish without any major moments of desperation!  I think I was able to stick to them because they're really not that involved, and they're just too cute.  One pot of gold with a rainbow coming out of it was not enough...I needed lots of them!  

Since these pops are definitely geared for kids and their St. Patrick's Day celebrations, make sure to stay tuned for tomorrow when I share a brand new St. Patrick's Day recipe that is definitely not for the kids, but is perfect for adults!  It's a pretty awesome recipe, so don't miss out!

Totally DIY S'mores

I love living away from home while I'm at college.  I'm not trying to be rude to my mom and dad or anything (really, I promise!) but living away from home is really one of the most defining moments of my college career, a fact I'm sure many people would agree with.  It's such a great way to meet new people and build really lasting friendships, and learn to be more independent.  One of the nicest things about living in a dorm setting is that there's always someone to hang out with, whether it's for doing homework, or just relaxing in front of the tv after a long day of classes.  Study breaks are also one of my favorite things about living at school.  We always have one study break a week, and two people are in charge of providing snacks or some kind of activity to help us all get a moment to catch our breaths and take a pause from whatever work and stress we have going on in our lives.  One of the first study breaks we had during my junior year was a s'more night!  I loveee s'mores, so I made sure that I went to this particular study break.  We essentially just had graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows (duh), and we microwaved the marshmallows to get them all nice and gooey, and then sandwiched them between the graham crackers and our chocolate bars of choice.  It was such a fun and simple (and yummy!) way to get to know everyone on my floor.  

As much as I may love s'mores, they're not a treat that I grew up eating, or eat very often.  I've only ever gone camping once (I'm not too much of a nature person, you see...bugs kind of freak me out), and I think that was the first time I ever had a s'more.  That was many years ago, and I think there's only been a handful of times since then that I've made s'mores for myself.  Regardless of that fact though, I know that I am totally a s'mores kinda gal, and surprise, surprise...a craving for s'mores struck a couple of weeks ago.  I knew that I had to remedy it, and that whenever I got around to it, I wanted super homemade s'mores. I wanted them to be perfect, and if making them entirely from scratch was the way to get perfect s'mores, then that was what I was going to do.  And you know what?  They were perfect, in every possible way.  My s'mores craving was wonderfully satisfied. 

Easy Halloween Cake Pops

These days, it's hard not to come across cake pops.  I love them! They're small, bite sized (maybe two-bite sized) little treats that are just too adorable to pass up.  They're also completely customizable, and can be made to fit any decorating scheme, holiday, or event.  The fact that they're also really easy to make only makes them even more convenient of a dessert to have up your sleeve.  If you show up anywhere with some really adorable cake pops...you win.

How to Make Candy Corn Cupcakes

This was the last Halloween inspired cupcake my mom and I came up with.  We made ghosts, mummies, spiderwebs, and pumpkins, but something was still missing.  After some careful pondering, we realized that while all the cupcakes looked great on their own, a pop of color and a little brightness was definitely missing.  My mom kept saying, "You need something yellow."  Enter candy corn cupcakes.

How to Make Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes

So I know that I have already mentioned several times my general disdain for over-exuberant amounts of frosting on cupcakes, but you're just going to have to pretend I have never said any of that before.  Just do it.  I love frosting (for this cupcake at least...and maybe the next Halloween cupcake that's coming up...and maybe these too). Just so we're clear, I don't like eating large quantities of frosting.  I don't know why.  I guess I just think cake is better.  However...decorating with frosting is a whole other story.  The more frosting I have to play with when it comes to frosting cupcakes, the better.  Sometimes you just need a whole lot to get that look you're going for.  There's no rule that says that you actually have to eat all the frosting on a cupcake...yes, I am that guy that will scrape off approximately 80% of the frosting off a cupcake before eating it.  But it's ok.  I like frosting today, remember?

How to Make Spiderweb Cupcakes

My original idea for my Halloween was to make a giant batch of spiderweb cupcakes, but then my mom was just like, "nope, we can do way better than that" and we ended up making 5 different types of cupcakes (two more to come!), and she was totally right.  Why stop with only spiderweb cupcakes when there's so many other great things to make?  Gotta be more creative than that.

I wasn't going to not make my spiderweb cupcakes though...that would have just been silly. I wanted them...so I made them.  They couldn't be any simpler.

How to Make Mummy Cupcakes

When my mom and I finished making the ghost cupcakes, we still had a bunch of white fondant sitting on our kitchen counter.  We wanted to incorporate it somehow into the next cupcake, but we weren't sure what we wanted to actually make.  Then, I dont remember which one of said it, but one of said, "mummies!" And then the other obviously thought it was a good idea, and here they are: adorable, bandaged, mysterious mummy cupcakes!

How to Make Ghost Cupcakes

The first cupcakes I made with my mom for Halloween were these ghost cupcakes.  My mom saw them in a magazine somewhere a couple of weeks ago, and she immediately called me saying that I HAD to make these cupcakes for Halloween.  They sounded like a good idea in my head, and I also pictured that they would look just as adorable in person, but I had no idea I would love them as much as I did when we made them!